Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Haiti Day Three!

The outpatient clinic where well children mix with very sick ones, waiting patiently in line. There is no regular well child care system or facility. People have an immunization schedule and go elsewhere for those. On the left are the nurses who weigh (clothed) and take vital signs.

This sign is to notify patients that all care at this hospital is free. It serves to warn them against unscrupulous workers or outsiders who may try to extort money from them for services.

Ilormy, the third year resident with whom we work in the outpatient department and Dr Meera Siddharth from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who is on my team. Meera is a wonderful preceptor and teacher and has practiced interational health in many parts of the world.

Each neighborhood school has a different uniform, some far more colorful than these. Haitians definitely do not want their pictures taken. People who have been here a long time say this is a change from prior to the earthquake and feel that one explanation is that they feel betrayed by all the foreigners who came, gawked, looked and were supposed to send home pictures that would stimulate donation and aid. And where is it all?

The five of us with Fabienne who is at back left, at Hotel Oloffson in Port au Prince, a famous funky hotel, mostly spared by the earthquake and a rendezvous spot for all manner of expats, volunteers, officials, and journalists. Supposedly the inspiration for Graham Greene's novel, a wacky wonderful experience.

A classic case of clubbing, a chronic condition in people with certain heart conditions, in this case Tetralogy of Fallot. You could almost hear the murmur standing next to this boy. You could certainly see it in his thin chest.

The File room at the outpatient department where we work and see patients

This is the pediatric pavilion, now entirely condemned after the earthquake and the reason that we are in the pre-fab pavilions. They have shrunk from some 100 beds to about 75 as a result. These buildings are all in a park like setting, gated and guarded but congested and harried. Nonetheless there is vegetation and a chapel and the traffic and noise compared to outside the fence are manageable.